Category: News

AIRLINES and passengers will have to rally behind Shannon Airport before the Minister reinstates the controversial travel tax if the airport is to make any kind of recovery, according to the airport pressure group Give Shannon Wings.

Ennis businessman Brian O’Neill was reacting to the Tanaiste’s warning at last week’s mid-west aviation conference, where he stated that the tax will be reintroduced if the airlines cut numbers.

And O’Neill added that whatever negotiations the various government departments are currently having with the airlines, they should be more transparent so that people in Clare know what is being planned.

“The airlines have the break they asked for and now they have to bring greater numbers into Shannon. And the travelling public have to support the airport and plan trips as much as possible to use the routes that are already there,” he said.

An Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore, said last week that the Government will “have to look at what Shannon Airport is doing and what role it plays in the overall picture of things. The objective of removing the travel tax, which was at the request of the airlines, was to increase the numbers and if we find that some airlines, instead of increasing numbers, are cutting back on routes and cutting back on activity, then we would have to revisit the issue of travel tax.”

O’Neill, of the Rowan Tree hostel and restaurant in Ennis joined forces with John O’Conner of Custy’s music shop and David Woodford from the Irish Shop came together to form the Give Shannon Wings and an online petition in support of the airport late last year. The petition which contained more than 13,000 signatures was presented to the the Minister for Tourism along with ten ‘demandments’ on what is needed to resurrect business at the aiport.

“The development of the Lynx Cargo Hub is to be welcomed but the airlines have to take advantage of this break. At the same time routes have to be encouraged and supported and there needs to be a targeted package put in place to promote the airport and let people know what routes are available.”

The other key to Shannons recovery lies with the travelling public, he said. “We need to support the routes that are there and plan to use them whenever possible and make a determined effort to see can we get where we’re going by using Shannon?

“We don’t know what the Minister is saying to the airlines or what he is saying to Michael O’Leary. It has been put about that Ryanair have been offered incentives. If that’s the case, then let people in the mid-west know what is being said and what we can expect.”

THE new First Citizen of Clare has told his fellow councillors and local government chiefs that cutting rates is key to kick-starting a resurgence in the county’s economic fortunes.

Mayor of Clare Pat Hayes has said that tackling the rates problem within the county will be a priority during his year in office, even if it means introducing cut-backs in other areas of Clare County Council’s yearly budget.

“The rates issue is critical,” Mayor Hayes told The Clare People . “A lot of businesses in Clare are struggling to survive. They have cut every other cost, but when you take the rates, from commercial rates to sewerage and water charges, it is a huge burden on ordinary businesses.

“The small businesses across the county are the ones that are going to get us out the trouble we’re in. They’re the ones that are going to provide employment. Clare County Council needs to recognise this.

“If cutting rates means we have to cut services, they we have to look at that. It we don’t do something, our rates base is going to fall. And with new charges that are put in place by the government, it’s important that the funding from these charges filter back into local government immediately.

“In the next few months, prior to any budget, I want all councillors in Clare to have a real look at what we can do to make this council leaner – it is important to look how we do all our business in the sake of finances. If we don’t continue to make strides in that, our rates base is going to fall. It is a key thing for me as mayor of Clare,” he added.

“I’m following in the footsteps of former councillors from East Clare who served in the chair,” Cllr Hayes told fellow councillors at the Clare County Council AGM last Thursday. “Sean Brady from 1932 to ’69, Johnny Moloney from 1984 to ’85 and Colm Wiley from 1993 to ’95. They were Fianna Fáil men as well and it was great honour to follow people like that,” he added.

“We have great hope right across this county. We as a council have been putting in place policies to lead this county forward. You can see that in the County Development Plan in the Clare Tourism Forum.

“What’s good about Clare is its people, its culture and its sharing capacity to help each other. We need to celebrate the good things of Clare and come out with a positive attitude of celebrating that. We need to do that on a monthly basis. Every month we should look at an aspect of our county and celebrate that.”

47-year-old Mr Hayes is the fifth Fianna Fáil mayor of Clare since the title was created in 2001 and the 20th chair of the county council from the party from the Fianna Fáil benches.

TWO new wastewater treatment plants for Kilrush and Kilkee – at a combined cost of € 17 million – have been given the green light, after a long wait.

The Government is to today announce the construction of the treatment plants in the two West Clare areas, along with the upgrade of the existing network collection system in the area.

The projects have been mooted for several years and the work is poised to be of a huge benefit to tourism in the West Clare area. € 10.5 million will be spent on the Kilkee project and € 6.7 million on the Kilrush project.

It will lead to job creation in the area when the work is ongoing, after contract documents are prepared for the project which will go to tender.

Fine Gael Deputy Pat Breen told The Clare People last night, “This has been with the Department of the Environment for many years and it is a significant development in progressing the two schemes. I would like to see these projects progressing with the minimum of delay, through to the preparation of contract and tender documents, so that the schemes could go to construction some time in 2013.”

“These schemes are very important to these two West Clare towns particularly given the importance of tourism to their local economies,” he added.

‘‘This contract is included in the Department’s Water Services Investment Programme 2010-2012 as a scheme at planning,’’ he said.

The schemes will be funded by the Department, in conjunction with Clare County Councils. The final de tails have yet to be worked out, according to Deputy Breen.

Local hotelier John Redmond said, “The sewage treatment project is something that needs to be done. Protecting the environment is such a high profile thing, especially in West Clare. It is a good thing for the town and the environment.”

Mr Redmond said this announcement is a significant boost to the local area, in the wake of grants being awarded for new lights at the Prom.

Every boost is essential, given that the tourist season hasn’t yet shown great results in the seaside resort.

“Even when people are around, the spend is not there. It has been fairly quiet. It is similar to last year. It’s not as busy as it should be. Everybody is trying their best,” said Mr Redmond.

THE future of the proposed Ballyvaughan to Galway ferry link will be decided this week as an independent survey group arrives in north Clare to speak to locals and complete the feasibility study which will be used to determine whether the project should continue.

The Spyria Partnership will be going door to door in the Ballyvaughan, Fanore, Kilfenora and Lisdoonvarna areas this week, asking local people to complete a survey.

This survey, as well as market research into the commercial feasibility of the link, will be used by the survey team to make a recommenda- tion on the future of the ferry link.

A meeting of all stakeholders will also take place in St John’s Hall in Ballyvaughan on Friday morning from 10am. This meeting is designed to attract local business people and to allow anyone who may be indirectly affected by the link being established to have their voice heard on the project.

“This meeting is aimed at guesthouses and any tourism attractions who could benefit from this and from having more people travelling to and from Galway on the ferry,” said Gwen Ryan, chair of the Ballyvaughan Bay Hop Group.

“It is about teasing out how the service would work. This is a com- munity-based service so we want to get people’s opinions on this. We don’t have a commercial operator behind this just yet.

“They are also going to go from house to house with a survey for the people who might think of using the service to commute themselves. We will be trying to get a leaflet into every house in the area and we also have a survey that can be completed on-line.

“We had a survey in the past but the Spyria people have a more detailed survey that they need to have completed for the feasibility study. So if anyone has completed the old online survey, we would ask them in particular to come back to the website and complete the new survey again if they want to have their voices heard.”

The group from Spyria Partnership will be in the Ballyvaughan area from July 6 to 9.

The response that they receive here will largely decide the outcome of the feasibility study.

“The people who I have contacted all think that this is a wonderful idea so I guess what I am trying to do now is make everyone aware of what is going on, especially the people who are stakeholders and will benefit from this ferry link if it becomes a reality,” continued Gwen.

Anyone interested in completing the new survey should contact www. ballyvaughanbayhop.com.

A DUBLIN man has appeared in court in connection with an alleged burglary that took place in Sixmilebridge last year.

Simon Gentles (26) with a previous address at 23 Casement Grove, Finglas, Dublin, appeared at Ennis Circuit Court on Thursday.

However, the court was told that the accused no longer lives at this address. It is alleged that Mr Gentles committed a burglary at Ardkyle, Sixmilebridge on January 7 (2010). Mr Gentles is also charged with possession of a firearm, to wit a medallist over and under shotgun.

Counsel for Gentles, Michael Collins BL, told the court that his client had been forced to leave his home in Dublin because he had “received a threat on his life.” As a result, Mr Collins explained, his client had since been on the move from “place to place”.

Mr Collins described his client’s ongoing attempts to supply Gardaí with an address as a “work in progress” due to his present situation.

He told the court that Gardaí are satisfied that the threat against Mr Gentles is serious.

Detective Garda, Kevin O’Hagan, told the court that he agreed with Mr Collins’ summation of events. He said the only outstanding matter was for the accused to provide gardaí with an address and for that address to be deemed acceptable by gardaí.

Referring to the accused’s current situation, Judge Donagh McDonagh said: “Not to put too fine a point on it, he’s going into hiding”.

Judge McDonagh added that gardai had advised against Mr Gentles signing on at a local garda station.

Mr Gentles supplied a written ad- dress to Detective O’Hagan and Judge McDonagh. Detective O’Hagan said he accepted the address.

Judge McDonagh re-admitted the accused to bail on the condition that he resides at the given address. He also ordered that if Mr Gentles intends to change address, he must inform Detective O’Hagan of the change in address, in writing, prior to moving. The accused is due to appear in court again at a later date.

A WORLD title is to make its way to Sixmilebridge this week, after Tom Cusack secured honours in powerlifting in the US at the weekend.

The 36-year-old, from Ballyliddane, Sixmilebridge, won the title at the World Drug-Free Powerlifting Championships in Chicago, in the 82.5 kilo dead weight lift. He defeated opponents from 14 other countries in winning the title.

Tom secured entry to the finals after he won a European title in Malta last October, having previously won the national title.

Tom, who runs Hillview Nurseries, set up his own gym and trains daily by himself.

His proud mother, Ita, told

A QUIN woman has won an award for her new business, which develops learning support computer games for children with reading difficulties.

Linda O’Sullivan’s company Footbridge Interactive won first prize at the LEAP Business Awards at the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT) last week and earned a prize of a € 50,000 investment from AIB’s Seed Capital Fund.

Footbridge Interactive games are aimed at improving reading fluency and comprehension for children with dyslexia. It is integrated into fun stories, which makes it appealing for children. It is aimed at seven to 12-year-olds, initially in Ireland the UK and possibly further afield at a later stage. The games are designed for children to play independently, at home or at school.

Linda established her company in 2010, as she felt there was an opening in this area. She won the award after she did a 12-month (LEAP) Enterprise Acceleration programme at LIT.

“I set it up last year. Jennifer Keane joined the company in January of this year. Jennifer has a background in animation and design. My background is in developing content for kids TV. I worked with a number of companies in Galway (including the Galway Film Centre),” said Linda.

“There wasn’t a huge choice of products. We have worked very closely with dyslexic experts and educational experts in all of this. We have worked closely with Limerick Dyslexia Support Centre as well,” said Linda, whose 14-year-old son Oisin Mac Criostail is dyslexic.

She explained how the new game works. “The child logs in and plays with the game. The game progresses the child. The child’s strengths and weaknesses are tracked. It is very good for learning resource teachers in schools. It is for the child when relaxed at home. In a computer game environment, they are quite happy to repeat things which they need. It compliments the work they do in school,” she said.

Linda has enjoyed the path to setting up her own company.

“My first step was I got a feasibility grant from Clare County Enterprise Board. It allowed me to look into the feasibility of it. I got an innovation voucher from Enterprise Ireland. We got further Enterprise Ireland funding from there,” she added.

“Everybody was very enthusiastic about it. It will be available from September. It will be a subscriptionbased production,” she said.

In advance of the final touches being put on the games, Linda will have a few very busy months ahead. “We are going to be working very hard over the summer to get the product released for the start of September. We will have a big launch in the UK and here,” she said.

INDEPENDENT councillor Michael Guilfoyle was last night elected as the new Mayor of Ennis.

Cllr Guilfoyle secured the backing of a majority of councillors at yesterday’s annual meeting of Ennis Town Council to beat off the challenge of Fine Gael councillor, Johnny Flynn by five votes to four. Cllr Guilfoyle replaces outgoing Mayor, Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind).

He was proposed for the post by Cllr Peter Considine (FF) and seconded by Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind).

Cllr Flynn was proposed by Cllr Mary Howard (FG) and seconded by Cllr Paul O’Shea (Lab).

Nominating Cllr Flynn, Cllr Howard said her party colleague had fought three elections and had been elected on either the first or second count on each occassion.

Cllr Considine said Cllr Guilfoyle had handled the position as Chairman of the Council before and had done an “excellent job”.

Councillors Brennan, Considine, Neylon, Guilfoyle and Brian Meaney (GP) voted for Cllr Guilfoyle. Councillors Howard, O’Shea, Flynn and Mary Coote Ryan (FG) voted for Cllr Flynn.

Cllr Guilfoyle was first elected to Ennis Town Council in 1983. He served as Council chairman in 1988 and 1991 and was the town’s first Deputy Mayor when the position was introduced in 2004.

In the same year, Cllr Guilfoyle lost his seat in the local elections. He regained his Council seat in 2009 and served as Deputy Mayor in the same year.

Cllr Guilfoyle told the meeting that as a person “born and bred” in Ennis he said it was “great honour” to be Mayor.

Cllr Guilfoyle acknowledged the role of outgoing Mayor, Cllr Brennan, highlighting the opening of new playground and youth centre facilities. He said he hoped to introduce a new civic awards scheme to recognize local people.

He also paid tribute to Cllr Flynn, hailing his commitment to the town before adding, “I hope you’re turn comes”.

Cllr Guilfoyle added, “I hope I will be as fair around this table as Cllr Brennan and other councillors were”.

Cllr Considine said Cllr Guilfoyle had represented the town with “great dignity and some panache”.

Cllr Neylon said people in the Turnpike, where Cllr Guilfoyle lives, had described him as “the comeback kid”.

Cllr Flynn wished the new Mayor every success, saying he had the energy and skills for the job.

Cllr Neylon was elected Deputy Mayor ahead of Cllr Paul O’Shea. He was proposed by Cllr Brennan and seconded by Cllr Meaney. Cllr O’Shea was proposed by Cllr Flynn and seconded by Cllr Howard.

Councillors Brennan, Considine, Neylon, Meaney and Guilfoyle voted for Cllr Neylon. Councillors Howard, Flynn, O’Shea and Coote-Ryan voted for Cllr O’Shea.

Cllr Brennan thanked his family, councillors, council officials and council staff. He added, “Without the support of family you won’t do much.”

MEMBERS of Clare County Council last night narrowly voted to nominate Independent candidate Seán Gallagher to contest the 2011 Presidential Election.

Despite legal advice that the Council was not entitled to nominate a candidate before the election writ is officially moved, a majority of members present voted 16/15 in favour of supporting Dragon’s Den panelist Gallagher.

A decision on the motion was delayed last week after councillors requested legal advice.

Prior to last night’s vote, County Manager Tom Coughlan said that he had to draw attention to the legal advice that stated that any challenge to the Council’s proposal to nominate Gallagher would be likely to succeed. He added that the Council would then be liable to pay costs.

The motion, put forward by Cllr Michael Begley (Ind), stated, “That we the members of Clare County Council pledge our commitment to nominate Seán Gallagher to contest the 2011 Presidential Election.” The motion was seconded by Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind).

The motion was strongly critcised by Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) and Fine Gael councillors.

Cllr Meaney described it as “extraordinary”, adding that he felt sorry for the normal members of Fianna Fáil whom he claimed were being forced to support Mr Gallagher, “a de-facto member of Fianna Fáíl”. Mayor of Clare, Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) reprimanded Cllr Meaney asking him not to comment the decisions of other political parties.

Cllr Meaney said that if Mr Gallagher is a “de facto Fianna Fáíl candidate” then he should be declared as the party’s official candidate.

Fianna Fáil councillors asked Cllr Meaney to withdraw his remarks. Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) told the meeting that he would be voting against the motion.

He added, “I’m a bit concerned that this is a bit premature.” Cllr Joe Ar- kins (FG) said that the motion represented “closing the stable door before the horse even got in”. He added, “We can’t formally nominate a candidate before the writ is moved.”

Cllr Tony Mulqueen (FG) warned that the Council could be legally exposed if the motion was passed.

When a vote was taken, 16 voted for and 15 against. Fianna Fáíl councillors present voted for the motion while Fine Gael councillors present voted against. Labour councillor Pascal Fitzgerald voted in favour of the Council nominating Mr Gallagher. The Labour party has nominated former Galway TD, Michael D Higgins, as its candidate in the Presidential Election.

SIGNS directing tourist towards Fanore and the R479 coast road will be re-erected by Clare County Council later this week.